Chapter 109: Tch, don't make that ugly expression with her face

"Subaru, you won't believe her, right?"

Emilia tugged pitifully at the hem of Natsuki Subaru's clothes, her eyes brimming with cautious wariness.

Seeing this, Natsuki Subaru rubbed his temples with a headache, mulling over a way to break the deadlock.

To be honest, unless he was a hundred percent certain.

He absolutely could not bring himself to lay a hand on either of the two girls.

But he couldn't just leave things be either, or else come nightfall something was bound to go wrong.

The first night passing peacefully didn't mean that nothing would happen on the nights to come.

...That's right!

Natsuki Subaru suddenly remembered something.

Come to think of it, if the Imitation Humans grew active at night, then what about during the daytime in the morning?

Did they vanish without a trace?

What was the principle behind this—could it be that Imitation Humans all feared sunlight?

Natsuki Subaru couldn't come up with an answer no matter how he racked his brain, so he simply voiced the doubt in his heart.

"And here I thought our guest was going to ask something important—how could an Imitation Human possibly fear sunlight? It's just that they don't like overly bright environments, so they don't want to go out, that's all."

Ram folded her arms across her chest and said in an exasperated tone.

"That's something I really wouldn't know, Subaru. We aren't Imitation Humans, so how could we possibly understand their habits…?"

Emilia said in a small voice, casting a sidelong glance at Ram, the meaning she was secretly trying to convey already quite obvious.

Natsuki Subaru took in every expression and gesture of the two girls, pondering for a while.

He did not jump to a hasty conclusion, but instead said indifferently.

"I have an idea. Since there's nothing planned today anyway, why don't I dispatch the two of you to head out and continue searching for supplies?"

"As the master of the mansion, I should have that right, shouldn't I?"

As he spoke, Natsuki Subaru carefully observed the reactions of the two girls before him.

This was, of course, no spur-of-the-moment whim. On one hand he genuinely did have such a thought, and on the other it was a probe of the two girls.

He didn't know whether Imitation Humans feared sunlight or not, but at the very least they wouldn't like it!

So, if he applied pressure to make the two girls go out and explore during the daytime when the sun was strongest, then whichever of the two was an Imitation Human would surely be unable to hold back and give herself away!

Sure enough, upon hearing his words, Emilia and Ram displayed entirely different reactions.

"Subaru, as long as you command me, I'll do it. It has nothing to do with your status."

Emilia crossed both hands over her chest, gazing at Natsuki Subaru almost reverently, as though looking upon the god of her own world.

This sight made Natsuki Subaru can't help but awkwardly shift his gaze away, turning it toward Ram on the other side.

But she instead furrowed her brow and retorted with a face full of resistance.

"I think this move of our guest's has no meaning whatsoever. The food I gathered yesterday is already enough to last for quite some time."

"Besides, going out together with this Lady Emilia—if she's the Imitation Human, I'm afraid she'll attack me not long after we leave. Would that be all right too?"

As Ram spoke, she suddenly thought of something, narrowing her eyes and directing her words at Emilia.

"Come to think of it, Lady Emilia, didn't you go out to look for food as well? So, guest, did Lady Emilia bring any food back?"

"This..."

Emilia propped her right arm with her left hand, momentarily at a loss for words in the face of Ram's interrogation.

However, Natsuki Subaru paid no mind to this point. The moment Ram had just rejected his proposal, his suspicion toward this Ram before him had already climbed to its peak.

"Rather than that—Ram, I'm very curious why you think that if Emilia were the Imitation Human, she'd attack you after going out?"

Natsuki Subaru stared intently at Ram and said slowly.

"As far as I know, Imitation Humans only grow active as night approaches, right? You two should know this better than I do."

"So, if we stand from a human's perspective, setting aside the belief that Imitation Humans fear sunlight, at the very least they wouldn't endure sunlight to fight a person."

"Then, Ram, for you to say it this way—ignoring the Imitation Humans' habits and regarding Emilia as the enemy—"

Before he knew it, Natsuki Subaru leaned in close to Ram's ear and spoke softly, brimming with a sense of pressure.

"From exactly which angle were you thinking?"

Natsuki Subaru's continuous forceful questioning made Ram instinctively take a step back.

But she quickly realized she couldn't show weakness, so she planted her feet and swiftly calmed down to respond.

"This… it's not like that. What I mean is that searching for food would lead us to the shadows where the sun doesn't reach."

"Guest, you know it too, don't you? The forest outside the mansion, and inside the village, are all hiding spots for those Imitation Humans. By then they'd come after me—"

"Mm, all right, I understand."

Before Ram could finish speaking, she was cut off by Natsuki Subaru.

Natsuki Subaru nodded indifferently, his face betraying neither joy nor sorrow.

Then, out of nowhere, he posed another question to Ram.

"Ram, then if I were to demand right now that you leave the mansion alone and go out to search for food, would you agree?"

Upon hearing this, Ram's pupils contracted, and she instinctively wanted to find a reason to refute just as she had before.

But in an inadvertent moment of locking eyes with Natsuki Subaru, she found his expression focused, his gaze incomparably sharp and earnest, as though there was no room whatsoever for her to argue.

This man before her—this time he was absolutely serious.

Yes, or no—she had only these two answers, otherwise the other party would not show any further hesitation.

Under the pressure Natsuki Subaru applied, Ram's chest heaved frequently in an almost imperceptible manner.

Had she not been afraid of arousing even greater suspicion, by now Ram would already have bent over and begun gasping for air in great gulps.

She had no choice at all—this was a trap!

If she said no, a simple refusal, it would be no different from admitting that she was an Imitation Human!

Ram clenched her fists, forcing herself to calm down, and opened her mouth like a gambler staking everything on one throw.

"Of course I'll agree! If it's just myself, then going out wouldn't come with so many concerns."

Ram pulled a sweet smile to the corner of her mouth, secretly observing the expression on Natsuki Subaru's face, and upon finding no change in it she swiftly lowered her head.

That should be enough, right?

Thinking of this, she secretly heaved a sigh of relief, and after restoring the smile on her face she was about to lift her head. "Click."

However, in the very instant she raised her head, she felt the crown of her forehead press against a cold piece of iron.

What...!

Ram's face went pale in a flash.

In this instant, owing to the rules, the function of the weapon now pressed before her surfaced automatically in her mind—to execute all targets that Natsuki Subaru suspected.

"I caught it—the scent of lying."

At this moment, in Ram's eyes, at the other end of the Execution Gun, Natsuki Subaru gripping the gun's handle loomed over her from above, enumerating the points of suspicion about her with a cold gaze.

"Although you agreed with your mouth, it means nothing. Your hesitation just now has already spelled out your true answer."

"If you went out by yourself, aren't you afraid that Emilia, left behind in the mansion, would attack me?"

"After all, in your eyes she's the Imitation Human, isn't she? Yet now it seems that's not what you truly believe in your heart. What, did you forget this point in your panic?"

Natsuki Subaru said, talking on of his own accord.

"Besides, you may not have noticed, but I'd already probed out your identity a while ago. What follows now is merely for extra insurance."

"When you and Emilia were arguing about when the term 'Imitation Human' came about, you instinctively called the Imitation Humans outside the mansion 'monsters,' while Emilia called them 'the deranged ones.' That alone was already enough to reveal the problem."

Saying this, Natsuki Subaru paused, a trace of mockery in the gaze he fixed on Ram before him.

"Miss Imitation Human, it seems your awareness of the shift in your own identity isn't quite clear, which is why your disguise is riddled with holes."

"No, it's not like that, guest. Please listen to Ram's explanation..."

Ram seemed to sense the approach of death's aura, so she hurriedly shook her head in denial.

But it was already too late. Upon hearing her plea for mercy, Natsuki Subaru gave a displeased "tch,"—don't use Ram's face… to make such an ugly expression!

Then, Natsuki Subaru pulled the trigger without the slightest hesitation.

"Bang!"

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